I can’t tell you how excited I’ve been for Madden on the Wii U. Now, the actual game play you are already familiar with. It’s not quite as good as it is on Xbox 360 or PS3, the graphics aren’t as flawless as you might be used to, but it’s not going to ruin the game for you.

No, what I’m going to talk about is the play-calling. Because it’s the most exciting breakthrough Madden has had in… well, maybe ever. You read that right: The new play-calling system is AWESOME.

The old way of play-calling is scrolling threw formations and plays on your TV. The Wii U way: your game pad is essentially a touch screen, like an iPad. Now, if you like to use the full playbook (like me), it will take some getting used to. Quite a few times I tried to scroll but instead picked a play. It happens early on. But once you’ve adjusted, it’s just so much better.

But here’s the best part: Once you’ve called your play, you’ll be able to see your formation on the gamepad. Want to change what a particular player is going to do? Just tap on him, and draw his new play with your finger. It’s that easy. Is your top receiver going to run a fly pattern, but there’s a safety sitting deep on his side? Just tap him. Then draw a little in pattern. That’s the pattern he’ll run. You have to try it for yourself. It will blow your mind.

Oh, and detached mode is great. If someone wants to watch TV, you can move the game so it’s on just your gamepad screen. If you think you’d lose quality, you’d be wrong. The screen is smaller, but there’s no drop-off in game play.

The amazing thing is that EA had to sort of rush out the Wii U version. Once they have a full year to develop Madden 14 for the Wii U… whoa, that’s going to be good.